Cancer impacts the whole family and relational system, not just the individual with the diagnosis. The present article identifies and reviews publications in the field of family therapy and cancer since 2019, to describe the theoretical models and techniques applied, and the outcomes achieved.
A search of databases and grey literature led to the identification of five articles from four studies. Four papers described primary research and one summarized a case example. Papers were published by teams in the USA, Sweden and Iceland. Each article described the benefits of adopting a family therapy approach on outcomes such as family communication, bereavement and decreased carer burden. Four papers described specialist family therapists delivering the interventions, and one used oncology nurses drawing on the theories and techniques of family therapy.
The rarity of family therapy publications in the past year reflects the individual-level approach to cancer which permeates both medicine and talking therapies. The utility of family therapy could be further surfaced through more large-scale studies which thoroughly describe the unique theoretical basis and techniques, alongside outcomes for multiple people within the family system.
The rarity of family therapy publications in the past year reflects the individual-level approach to cancer which permeates both medicine and talking therapies. The utility of family therapy could be further surfaced through more large-scale studies which thoroughly describe the unique theoretical basis and techniques, alongside outcomes for multiple people within the family system.The aim of this study was to summarize the literature on prevalence and risk factors for suicidality in cancer patients and to document the research on oncology healthcare professionals' strategies in identifying this risk.
Cancer patients exhibit increased risk of suicidality compared with the general population. Various risk factors have been identified including sociodemographic factors such as poverty, being male and elderly as well as disease-related attributes such as cancer type and stage. The literature on how healthcare professionals identify suicide risk is sparse. Ten articles were found that focused on two main themes. These included information on systematic strategies in identifying suicide risk and factors that affect healthcare professionals' ability to identify risk in their patients.
Although there is an immense amount of literature documenting the problem of suicidality among patients, the research on how healthcare professionals identify and respond to these indications in patients is nearly nonexistent. Cancer centres should implement standardized and systematic screening of cancer patients for suicidality and research on this patient population should collect and report these data. Ongoing training and education for healthcare professionals who work in the oncology setting on how to identify and respond to suicide risk among cancer patients is urgently needed.
Although there is an immense amount of literature documenting the problem of suicidality among patients, the research on how healthcare professionals identify and respond to these indications in patients is nearly nonexistent. Cancer centres should implement standardized and systematic screening of cancer patients for suicidality and research on this patient population should collect and report these data. Ongoing training and education for healthcare professionals who work in the oncology setting on how to identify and respond to suicide risk among cancer patients is urgently needed.Meningitis and encephalitis (ME) are important causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Patients suspected of having ME are often hospitalized and started on empiric antimicrobial treatment, because of the potential adverse consequences of delaying the diagnosis or treatment. Multiplexed polymerase chain reaction panels are one of several rapid diagnostic technologies that have the potential to overcome some of the limitations of conventional diagnostic methods for ME. https://www.selleckchem.com/products/vorapaxar.html The BioFire FilmArray Meningitis/Encephalitis Panel was the first Food and Drug Administration-cleared multiplex polymerase chain reaction for the evaluation of cerebrospinal fluid samples, able to identify 14 organisms in a single test reaction. This newer rapid diagnostic tool has an overall high sensitivity and specificity for the diagnosis of ME with a fast turnaround time and has the potential to improve resource utilization for patients presenting with suspicion of ME. However, further research is needed to determine its optimal use in the evaluation of patients with suspected ME.Injuries to the anterior cruciate ligament and posterior cruciate ligament are common, and often are treated with reconstruction. Limited quantitative data are available describing material properties of grafts used for reconstructions such as the bone-patellar tendon-bone (BPTB), hamstring tendon (HS), and quadriceps tendon (QT). The purpose of this study was to quantify and compare microstructural and mechanical properties of BPTB, HS, and QT grafts.
Forty specimens (13 BPTB, 13 HS, and 14 QT grafts) from 24 donors were used. Specimens were subjected to preconditioning, stress relaxation, and ramp to failure. Mechanical parameters were calculated for each sample, and polarization imaging was used to evaluate the direction and strength of collagen fiber alignment during testing.
QT had the largest modulus values, and HS had the smallest. BPTB exhibited the least disperse collagen organization, while HS were the least strongly aligned. Microstructural properties showed more strongly aligned collagen with increasing load for all grafts. All tissues showed stress relaxation and subtle microstructural changes during the hold period.
The mechanical and microstructural properties differed significantly among BPTB, HS, and QT grafts. QT exhibited the largest moduli and greatest strength of collagen alignment, while HS had the smallest moduli and least strongly aligned collagen.
This study identified mechanical and microstructural differences among common grafts and between these grafts and the cruciate ligaments they replace. Further research is needed to properly interpret the clinical relevance of these differences.
This study identified mechanical and microstructural differences among common grafts and between these grafts and the cruciate ligaments they replace. Further research is needed to properly interpret the clinical relevance of these differences.